Jumble Juxtaposition.... a lotus petal !

What i am fascinated about this crazy mixed up world is just that, it is mixed up, with no obvious rhyme or reason that things come together the way they do. I both love it, and at times loath it. Good example of this is on 10 nte. in Playa del Carmen. Just down from Java Joes (see Gaggia Expresso Machines) and just up from the Condo & the Faro (see How close can you build a Condo to a Lighthouse ?) there is a really cool looking hotel. The KINBE, avec un accent on the e. While i am no HIP Hotel photographer, here are some shots of the reception. I haven't seen the rooms but i suspect that the design aesthetic has been transmitted with fidelity. The set at an angle book shelves is truely original.The fact that there is a copy of Sur la Rue by Jack Karouac en Francais among the collection, and that there is a Canadian number on the business card leads me to believe there is French (Canadian) Connection. A first Lotus Petal
is duely awarded!

Ship Shape mas barcos

Ask any Naval architect and they will tell you that hull shape determines the way in which a ship will glide through the water.Heres a shot of the bow of one these wonderful local barcos, and an idle beauty about to be put to work.

Incommunicado

Etymology; from the Spanish Incomunicar to deprive of communication.
There is something in the anonymity of travel that does one of 2 things.It either creates an anxious frenzy of communication
to friends, family & associates to let them know where you are, and what you are doing , or it drives you deeper into the realisation that you don't really want to be that connected to the people who are in your life. At least for awhile. Some quite space might be healthy. Now here is a traveller's challenge that dawned on me many years ago that not that many people have had and it is this : Have you ever been anywhere on this planet where no one who you know , knows where you are ? For a week perhaps or even for a day ? Where you are completely Incommunicado with the world that you know, and that knows you. For people who have occasionally gone underground, dissapeared, dropped of the map, gone AWOL, like your reporting Agent, i can tell you it is a liberating experience. Once you have had it, you may finally get into direct communication with what is around you, where ever you find yourself. And more scarry than that, you might get into direct communication with yourself. Once achieved you can bring more of your real self home.Leaving the excess baggage behind.

Mayan Pyramid Selling?

No its not a Mayan Pyramid Selling Scheme. Or for sale, or an illusion from Egypt.This pyramid house is on the northern end of la playa. It has been there at least since i lived here in 2005. I have never seen anybody living in it, all the time i came to the beach. Who ever owns it has done something very unique with a prime piece of beach frontage. However with development creeping steadily in, it could be lost like a lot of pyramids in the Yucatan, but this time to the concrete jungle.

Gaggia Italian Expresso Machines

Some of the best shots of expresso are poured around the world, from Italian made Gaggia expresso machines. This one is in Java Joe's in Playa, an establishment cafe popular with locals and tourists alike. Adjacent is the Hotel Libreria.Very airy, spacious reception, interesting concept with the books, a neat space to walk into.

The idle beauty of boats.El Barco

I just love the sleek shape of the local sea craft - el Barco.

How close can you build a Condo to a Lighthouse ? bout this close ...

Now Playa del Carmen has this little Faro , well its not that small, and it is probably not a functioning Faro in that it warns ship captains of dangereous reefs, but it is a lighthouse non the less, and was a standout edifice on la playa. Until. The question is 'How close can you build a condo to a lighthouse?' Well, about this close....I know beach front real estate is as prime as it gets, especially in paradise, but this is a prime example of selling architectural space that doesn't exist to build in.
I could continue my polemic on The CondoQuest of Paradise, alas this morning, i would rather focus again on The Idle Beauty of Boats.

Travelin Books

The was a wonderful documentary that i really loved called Traveling Birds.It tracked the migratory paths of a number of long haul feather flyers around the globe. Using some very inventive camera techniques mounted on UltraLights, you literally climbed on board with them and flew over vast stretches of country and ocean. No mean feat navigating from breading grounds in the Arctic to your winter residence somewhere in Africa.
Now i think books do the same.When ever i am on the road i am always on the look out for books to read. I catch up as do many travelers on unread novels whilst on the move. As you move, so do the books you are hauling. And with the vast distances these days that travelers cover, books can clock up the miles in no time. If you fitted a gps chip in the cover of a classic novel that readers tend to re read , say Siddharta by Herman Hesse you could track its movements around the globe.
There is a sort of unwritten code of conduct with us travelin readers, ok maybe you buy your departure Airplane reading book from a bookshop before you leave home , you progressively read it on the road , but once you finish it , you quickly become aware of what i call Book to Back Pack Weight Ratio- B2BPW%. Now your beloved author, whom you have been so intimate with inside of his or her fabricated world becomes a weight liability. It might be just paper weight, but books are heavy critters especially when they are read. So what to do ? well meeting a fellow traveller you offer as a gift, or you find a second hand bookshop and do a trade, or you leave behind in your hotel room, a random act of reading kindness that you enact for the next occupant. With great delight I have done all three.
Travelin Books will get future posts for sure and there is a lot to recommend and discuss. This pic is of the interior of Mananas Cafe on Isla Mujeres , which has a sizable colony of resting books, probably the 2nd largest collection of novels after Alma Libre in Puerto Morelos. At Play in the Fields of the Lord by that remarkable American author Peter Matthiessen has hitched a ride with me this time, who knows where it will end up in the Caribbean, who knows where this novel has been so far ? I always look for any readers inscription or a stamp inside its pages , that might indicate a previous owners memo to him or her self or to the next reader. This book has done some miles by the look of it, published in 1965, it has a Los Arcos Reds English Library book stamp from Antigua inside its cover, so its been migrating around Central America probably for some time.
The other pleasure that always goes with reading in cafes at least for me, is a good short sharp shot of expresso, if Isla Mujeres is on your flight path be sure to go to Mananas and refuel there, get Karen to make it for you.